1998:565 - BALLINCAR, Sligo

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Sligo Site name: BALLINCAR

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0390

Author: Richard Crumlish, Archaeological Services Unit Ltd.

Site type: No archaeology found

Period/Dating: N/A

ITM: E 567308m, N 838812m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.297032, -8.502204

Monitoring of topsoil-stripping along a 420m-long stretch of roadway, part of the realignment of the R291, the Sligo-Rosses Point road, was carried out on 2–4 September 1998, as a result of recommendations by the NMHPS following an Environmental Impact Survey prepared by Archaeological Services Unit Ltd in May 1998.

This section of the roadway lay c. 3 miles east of Rosses Point, in the townland of Ballincar. The topsoil-stripping was confined to the southern side of the existing roadway. The area excavated for the proposed realignment was 3-8.6m wide.

The stratigraphy encountered consisted of topsoil underlain by natural subsoil, redeposited subsoil, boulder clay and bedrock.

The only artefacts recovered, from the topsoil, were a number of pottery sherds of modern date and two modern glass bottles. The remains of a field drain, 0.3–0.4m wide and 0.2–0.3m deep, were also uncovered.

Nothing of archaeological significance was in evidence. The first 120m of proposed roadway at its western end had been disturbed in the recent past, having been acquired a number of years earlier by Sligo County Council and landscaped. Domestic water connections, Telecom cables and chambers were also laid within the road-take, adding to the disturbance.

Purcell House, Oranmore, Co. Galway